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Keeping the art alive, one model at a time

Ronald Reid started building replicas of military vehicles when he was a little boy.

By TRACY SMALL
Published June 24, 2005

LAKE MAGDALENE - Ronald Reid is a modeling enthusiast who's determined to show that crafting scale models is not a dying art.

He got his first taste of tinkering with replicas of military vehicles as a little boy helping his father, who served in the Army during the Vietnam War.

Back then, they worked with clay models. Today, 39 years old and living in Cheval, Reid keeps up the tradition. But instead of common die cast models or metal ones, he builds intricate plastic models.

"I'm trying to keep the art alive," said Reid, whose work is now on display at the Jimmie B. Keel Library. "In this fast paced world, people just don't take the time to create anymore."

Reid builds his models from kits. He paints the parts and then constructs the vehicles using model glue or cement. He cuts and shapes additional parts from plastic tubing. Using modeling magazines as reference guides, Reid re-creates rescue and cargo vehicles to look like those from specific time periods. He gets his models from local stores and via mail order from England and Japan.

"My duplication of these models should be as accurate as possible," Reid said.

The scale Reid uses for most of his models is 1:72. Some of the models have movable parts, and others are customized with soldiers, sandbags and gas cans. He even has an exact replica of the PT 109, the patrol torpedo boat that John F. Kennedy commanded during World War II.

All that detail work pays off in the end: At the library, 11-year-old Douglas Driscoll gazes at the glass case and remarks, "They're pretty cool."

Reid served in the U.S. Marine Corps and is a retired New York state police officer. He recently graduated from Saint Leo University and hosts a talk radio show on WMNF-88.5 FM called The Think Tank.

Reid said that completing each model takes him an average of six to nine hours.

"People don't realize the hours it takes to research the model, then finally build it," he said.

Reid said that, these days, he doesn't devote enough time to his hobby. With two children of his own, he'd like to change that.

"This is the type of hobby that could bring fathers and sons, even daughters back to the table together," he said. "Plenty of quality time."

The library at 2902 W Bearss Ave. will feature Reid's jeeps, tanks, helicopters, planes and trucks through June 30.

[Last modified June 23, 2005, 08:09:06]